Interactive program guide with graphic program listings

ABSTRACT

Electronic program guides in which program listings may be graphically presented and in which sponsors and celebrities of those programs may be identified are provided. The electronic programs guides may be passive television program guides, interactive television program guides, and/or on-line television program guides. Television show text information, logos and/or trademarks, celebrity images, affiliation indicators, and advertisements may be present in the program listings to enhance the electronic program guides.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/254,888, filed Sep. 1, 2016, currently pending, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/670,164, filed Mar.26, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,438,950, issued Sep. 6, 2016, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/502,331, filed Sep.30, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,015.756, issued Apr. 21, 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/195,336, filed Aug.1, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,938,757, issued Jan. 20, 2015, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/754,753, filed Jan.4, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,938,208, issued Aug. 30, 2005, which claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/174,443, filed Jan.4, 2000, now expired, all of which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic program guides, and moreparticularly, to promotional techniques for program guides.

Electronic program guides are used to provide program listingsinformation to television viewers. Program listings information mayinclude program titles, scheduled broadcast times and channels, programdescriptions, etc.

One form of electronic program guide is the passive television programguide. Passive television program guides, such as the TV Guide Channel,are typically provided by cable system head-ends or other televisiondistribution facilities on a dedicated television channel. Passiveprogram guides may provide program listings in the form of anautomatically scrolling or paged list. Viewers may access the listingsof the passive program guide by tuning to the appropriate dedicatedtelevision channel with a standard television or set-top box.

Another form of electronic program guide is the interactive televisionprogram guide. Interactive television program guides, such as TV GuideInteractive and Gemstar Guide Plus, are typically implemented on set-topboxes or other user television equipment with suitable processingcircuitry. Users typically interact with such interactive televisionprogram guides using a remote control. Features that are often offeredby interactive television program guides include the capability to setfavorite channels or programs, the capability to set reminders forprograms of interest, and the ability to establish parental controls.

Yet another form of electronic program guide is the on-line televisionprogram guide. On-line television program guides, such as TV GuideOnline, allow users to access program listings information over theInternet using a web browser or similar interface.

When using these guides, users frequently may click on program titleswithin the guides to view additional information such as a detailedprogram description.

All of these variations of electronic program guides provide programlistings information to their viewers or users in the form of text. Thiscan be seen in passive products such as the TV Guide Channel orAmericast's passive program guide, both of which feature a text-basedscrolling grid of listings. Text-based listings are also seen inInternet guides such as the GIST on-line program guide and the Click TVon-line program guide. Text-based listings are also seen in interactiveprogram guides such as Starsight and Americast interactive programguides.

Nevertheless, there is a need for a more aesthetically pleasing andeye-catching methods for presenting electronic program guides.Preferably these methods would incorporate program listings that areeasy to identify and that indicate relationships between sponsors andcelebrities of those programs.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an electronicprogram guide that presents program listings as graphical images thatcan meet these needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordancewith the principles of the present invention by providing electronicprogram guides in which program listings may be graphically presentedand in which sponsors and celebrities of those programs may beidentified. The electronic programs guide may be passive televisionprogram guides, interactive television program guides, and/or on-linetelevision program guides. Television show text information, informationicons, graphic logos and/or trademarks, celebrity images, affiliationindicators, and advertisements may be present in the program listings toenhance the electronic program guides.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of program guide provider equipment, acommunication link, and program guide display equipment that may be usedin accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenthat may he presented in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing text information and information icons that may be presented inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing an information tray that may he presented in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing program information with colored backgrounds that may bepresented in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing program logos and affiliation. indicators that may be presentedin accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing celebrity images that may be presented in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of another electronic program guide displayscreen showing celebrity images that may be presented in accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing affiliation indicators and an advertisement button that may bepresented in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing promotion buttons that may be presented in accordance with someembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing a promotion button and an advertising button that may bepresented in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of an electronic program guide display screenshowing a promotion button that may be presented in, accordance withsome embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning first to FIG. 1, a system 100 for presenting an electronicprogram guide is illustrated. System 100 may be used to implement anyform of electronic program guide, including a passive television programguide, an interactive television program guide, and an on-linetelevision program guide. As shown, system 100 may include program guideprovider equipment 120, a communication l ink 130, and program guidedisplay equipment 140.

When implemented as a passive television program guide, system 100 maybe implemented with equipment 120 being a computer and video generatorat a cable head-end, link 130 being a one-way cable televisiondistribution system, and equipment 140 being a television. Program guidedata then may be formatted by the computer, converted to a video signalby the video generator, transmitted through the cable televisiondistribution system, and then received by and displayed on thetelevision.

When implemented as an interactive television program guide, system 100may be implemented with equipment 120 being a server at a cable head-endor other location, link 130 being a one-way or two-way cable televisiondistribution system, and equipment 140 being an advanced set-top box anda television. Program guide data may the be transmitted from the serverthrough the cable television distribution system, received by theset-top box, displayed on the television; and interacted with by a userusing a remote control of the set-top box.

When implemented as an on-line television program guide, system 100 maybe implemented with equipment 120 being a server, link 130 being acomputer network that may include the Internet, and equipment 140 beinga computer that is capable of communicating with the server in equipment120. Program guide data may then be formed by the server into a webpage, transmitted by the server through the computer network to thecomputer, displayed on a computer monitor connected to the computer tothe user, and interacted with by the user using a mouse and/or keyboardattached to the computer.

Obviously, many variations of suitable equipment may be used to providean electronic program guide in accordance with the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Forexample, the present invention may be implemented in a satellitetelevision system.

Turning to FIG. 2, one embodiment of an electronic program guide display200 in accordance with the present invention is illustrated. As shown,program, guide display 200 may include a top half 202 and a bottom half203. Top half 202 may include promotional videos, advertisements,graphics, text, icons, and/or any other suitable content. Bottom half203 may include a time bar 204 that indicates the current time and timeslots for television programs, and an information area 206 thatindicates information relating to television programs that are on inthose time slots. The content provided in top half 202 of display 200may or may not correspond to the information relating to televisionprograms that is provided in bottom half 203 of display 200.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, time bar 204 preferably includes a clock 302and time slots 304. Time bar 204 may also include a guide provider logo303 to indicate to the viewer the identity of the provider of the guide.Time slots 304 provide an indication of when programs were playing, areplaying, and/or will be playing. Time slots 304 may be implemented inany suitable delineation of time segments. For example, time slots 304may be implemented in half-hour segments (e.g., one segment may read8:00, the next may read 8:30, and another may read 9:00). The time slotsmay also indicate when the times indicated by the time slots are in thepast.

As shown, information area 206 may include program listings for theelectronic program guide. In some embodiments, the program listing maybe displayed as buttons 306. Buttons 306 may include text informationpertaining to each program, such as the title of the program, adescription of the program, names of actors in the program, etc, andinformational icons that indicate the rating of the program (e.g., PG,G, TV-13, etc.), whether the program is in stereo, whether the programis closed-captioned, whether the program is in Dolby, whether theprogram is broadcast in High-Definition Television (HDTV), etc. Buttons306 may be color coded to indicate what category of show eachrepresents. Each button 306 may be aligned with a channel indicator 308to indicate what channel a corresponding program is on. Each channelindicator 308 may indicate the channel number, call letters, name, logo,and/or any other suitable indicator of the channel indicator. Eachchannel indicator 308 may also be in a similar style to guide providerlogo 303.

Although the program listings are shown herein as being displayed inbuttons 306, program listings may be displayed in any suitable graphicalelement, such as a grid cell.

An information tray 402 may also be included in information area 206 asshown in FIG. 4. Information tray 402 may contain a legend 404 thatindicates the scheme used for color-coding buttons 306, if any. Forexample, legend 404 may indicate that buttons 306 corresponding tosports programs are indicated in green and that buttons 306corresponding to movies are indicated in red. Thus, as shown. in FIG. 5,buttons 502 and 504 would be colored green and button 506 would becolored red. Information tray 402 may also display information such asweather and news 406.

Turning to FIG. 6, a graphical approach to displaying programinformation in buttons 306 of information area 206 is shown. Asillustrated, buttons 306 include graphical elements such as logos and/ortrademarks for the programs identified by the buttons that may be usedin addition to or instead of basic text. For example, button 604contains the graphic logo “F•R•I•E•N•D•S” instead of the basic text“Friends”. Similarly, button 606 contains the graphic logo“SportsCenter” (wherein “Center” is in bold letters) instead of thebasic text “SportsCenter” (wherein none of the letters are boldletters). Button 612 contains the graphic logo for “Home Improvement”wherein the words “Home Improvement” are incorporated into a graphicrepresentation of a house rather than simply being presented as ordinarytext. By displaying buttons 306 with graphic logos and/or trademarks ofthe corresponding programs, viewers can more easily identify programsthat are of interest to them. For this reason, program providers may bewilling to pay to have their programs presented as logos and/ortrademarks in the program guide in addition to or instead of basic text.

Like buttons 306 with text content, buttons 306 with graphic content mayhave colored backgrounds to indicate to the viewer what type of programis showing. For example, “F•R•I•E•N•D•S” button 604 may have a yellowbackground to indicate that it corresponds to a situation comedy(sitcom) or drama. “SportsCenter” button 606 may be colored green toindicate that it corresponds to sports related programming.

Buttons 306 may also indicate affiliation of programs and/or the programguide with an affiliated entity by Providing graphical elementaffiliation indicators within the buttons. For example, buttons 306 mayinclude one or more affiliation indicators to indicate networkaffiliation (e.g., ABC, NBC, etc.), sports team affiliation (e.g., GreenBay Packers,

Denver Broncos, New York Yankees, etc.), corporate affiliation (e.g.,NFL, NASCAR, National Geographic, etc.), event affiliation (e.g., Super.Bowl, Daytona 500, Kentucky Derby, etc.), guide affiliation (e.g., TVGuide, etc.), etc. Affiliation indicators may indicate sponsorship of aprogram by a sponsor, or may indicate any other affiliation between anentity and a program.

FIG. 6 shows examples buttons 306 with affiliation. indicators. Button608 indicates a network affiliation of the program “News Channel 7” withthe ABC Network, and button 610 indicates a corporate affiliation of theprogram “NFL's Greatest” with the NFL. These are just two possiblevariations of including affiliation indicators in buttons 306. Othervariations could include multiple affiliation indicators in the samebutton.

Button 306 may also include graphical element celebrity images as shownin FIG. 7. As illustrated, buttons 702, 704, and 706 have images ofcelebrities in the buttons. Celebrity images on these buttons helpviewers identify programs because viewers associate celebrity imageswith programs. Button 706, for instance, shows the faces of the castmembers of the show “Party of Five.” As is evident in FIG. 7, the sizesof buttons in the program guides of the, present may be any suitablesize or shape and need not he of uniform size or shape. As is alsoevident in FIG. 7, especially from button 704, many features of theinvention can be used in the same button. As illustrated, button 704 isa large button, and includes a program logo, an affiliation indicatorfor a television network affiliation, an affiliation indicator for acorporate affiliation (possibly a sponsor) , text information, and acelebrity image.

Other examples of celebrity images within buttons are shown in FIG. 8.As can be seen, in button 802, a program logo, network affiliationindicator, and a celebrity image are all included. Alternatively, asshown in button 804, only a program logo and a celebrity image may beused. As yet another alternative, a program logo may be positionedwithin a celebrity image as shown in button 806.

By providing logos, affiliation indicators, and celebrity images inbuttons, the program guide of the present invention. provides increasedreadability. Because less time is spent reading the program listings,viewers can focus more time looking at other parts of the screen. Thisis particularly useful because this provides an incentive for companiesto advertise in the program guide and/or sponsor programs indicated inbuttons 306. In order to provide more space for advertisements, biggerchannel buttons may be implemented in the program guide.

Turning to FIG. 9, a large button 902 is shown. As illustrated, button902 indicates that on the television program “Monday Night Football,”the Denver Broncos are playing the Kansas City Chiefs. To help theviewer quickly identify this football game, affiliation indicators 904,906, and 908 are included in button 902. Indicator 904 indicates thatthis program is affiliated with the National Football League, andindicators 906 and 908 indicate the logos of the Kansas City Chiefs andDenver Broncos, respectively. As can also be seen in FIG. 9, button 902is not of uniform shape in order to facilitate the inclusion of anadvertising button 910. As shown, button 910 includes a “Nike Swoosh”advertising element that may be used to advertise various sporting goodsavailable from Nike, Inc. Because Nike provides sporting goods,including advertising button 910 with. an advertising element nearbutton 902, which shows information for an athletic event, may be aneffective advertising mechanism. Advertising elements may be used in anytype of button, information tray, and/or any other portion of theelectronic program guides.

Buttons 306 may also include promotional slogans to indicate significantevents. Slogans may include phrases such as “Final Episode,” “SeasonFinale,” or any other suitable phrase.

Turning to FIG. 10, two promotion 1002 and 1004 buttons that may also beused in the electronic program guides of the present invention areshown. As illustrated, buttons 1002 and 1004 are not displayed with acorresponding channel indicator 308 like buttons 306. Because buttons1002 and 1004 are not displayed with a channel indicator 308, thesebuttons may be used to promote or advertise any event, goods, service,etc.

irrespective of whether the event, goods, or service is a related to atelevision program. Nevertheless, as shown, button 1002 is promoting atelevision program “Ally McBeal.” Within button 1002 are a slogan “Don'tmiss Ally tonight!”, a logo “Ally McBeal”, an affiliation indicator“FOX”, a celebrity image of Calista Flockhart, and text programinformation “7:00on FOX”. Promotion button 1004, as illustrated, isassociated with button 1002, even though button 1004 may be completelyindependent of button 1002. Button 1004 comprises a affiliationindicator for “TV Guide Online”, an text information “Find out moreabout Calista at TV Guide online”, and a Uniform Resource Locator CURL)for “www.tvguide.com”. By selecting the URL in button 1004 when theelectronic program guide is implemented as an interactive televisionprogram guide or an online television program guide, the electronicprogram guide may present a web browser containing the corresponding webpage. Two other forms of promotion buttons are illustrated in FIGS. 11and 12. As shown in FIG. 11, a promotion button 1102 may be used topromote an event such as the “Daytona 500”. In conjunction with thispromotion, button 1102 may also include a slogan “Winston Cup Seriespremier!”, an affiliation indicator

“TV Guide Channel”, and text information “This Sunday!”. An advertisingbutton 1104 may also he used in conjunction with promotion button 1102.As shown, button 1104 shows the logo for “NASCAR” to advertise “NASCAR”auto racing. By placing advertising button 1104 near promotion button1102, viewers are aware of the association of their content.

As shown in FIG. 12, a promotion button 1202 may be used to promote anevent such as the “Holyfield VS Lennox” boxing match as indicated by thetext information “Holyfield VS Lennox”. Also included in button 1202 isa celebrity image of the two fighters, and more text informationindicating that the fight will be aired on “Sat, March 13” at “7:00 PM”and will be “Live on Pay-Per-View”.

The concepts shown and discussed in conjunction with the figures may beused in passive, interactive, and online guides. The arrangements ofscreen elements shown are merely illustrative. For example, see U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/357,941, filed Jul. 16, 1999 and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/354,602, filed Jul. 16, 1999, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, for examplesof arrangements of interactive program guides, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/938,028, filed Sep. 18, 1997, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety, for examples ofarrangements of elements in an online program guide. The screens used inaccordance with the present invention may or may not be partitioned intovarious sections containing, for example, program listings, videowindows, advertisements, logos and screen titles, etc. Program listingsmay be in the form of a grid, a list sorted by time, channel, category,alphabetically, or in any other format. In the interactive embodiments,the guide may allow the user to highlight any individual item and selectit using a “Select”, “Enter”, “Ok”, or similar key. In the onlineembodiments, the guide may allow the user to select any individual timeby clicking on it using a mouse. Selectable items may include anybutton, logo, indicator, text, icon, etc.

Selecting an item may cause the guide to perform an action (such astuning to a program) related to the item, display additional informationrelated to the item, display a menu of options related to the item(e.g., watch, remind, lock, favorite, order, other air times, etc.), orother function. The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principlesof this invention and various modifications can he made by those skilledin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for presenting a media guidanceapplication using control circuitry, comprising: requesting, from aserver located remote to the media guidance application, via a two-waycommunication link, data associated with a plurality of televisionprograms; in response to the requesting, receiving, from the server viathe two-way communication link, the data associated with the pluralityof television programs; processing, using the control circuitry, thedata associated with the plurality of television programs to generateprogram listings for the plurality of television programs, wherein atitle or name of at least one of the plurality of television programs isgraphically branded to emulate the title or name of the televisionprogram as it appears in a broadcast of the television program; andgenerating for display, using the control circuitry, the plurality ofprogram listings.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data associatedwith the plurality of television programs is received independently fromreceiving the plurality of television programs via the two-waycommunication link.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating fordisplay the plurality of program listings further comprises: arrangingthe plurality of program listings in a grid, based on content associatedwith the plurality of television programs.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of program listings is arranged in a grid based oncategories associated with the plurality of program listings.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of program listingsfurther comprises a logo of a content provider of a respectivetelevision program associated with each respective program listing ofthe plurality of program listings.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising generating for display a promotion that includes a logo for atelevision program being promoted wherein the promotion is generated fordisplay proximate to the plurality of program listings.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the television program being promoted matches the atleast one of the plurality of television programs.
 8. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the promotion includes at least one of a logo of asponsor of the television program being promoted, a celebrity nameassociated with the television program being promoted, and a celebrityimage associated with the television program being promoted.
 9. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the television program being promoted doesnot match a television program of the plurality of television programs.10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, using thecontrol circuitry, user input selecting a program listing of theplurality of program listings; and in response to receiving the userinput selecting the program listing, performing at least one ofgenerating for display, recording, adding to a favorite list, andordering a television program associated with the program listing.
 11. Asystem for presenting a media guidance application comprising controlcircuitry configured to: request, from a server located remote to themedia guidance application, via a two-way communication link, dataassociated with a plurality of television programs; in response to therequesting, receive, from the server via the two-way communication link,the data associated with the plurality of television programs; process,using the control circuitry, the data associated with the plurality oftelevision programs to generate program listings for the plurality oftelevision programs, wherein a title or name of at least one of theplurality of television programs is graphically branded to emulate thetitle or name of the television program as it appears in a broadcast ofthe television program; and generate for display, using the controlcircuitry, the plurality of program listings.
 12. The system of claim11, wherein the data associated with the plurality of televisionprograms is received independently from receiving the plurality oftelevision programs via the two-way communication link.
 13. The systemof claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, whengenerating for display the plurality of program listings, to: arrangethe plurality of program listings in a grid, based on content associatedwith the plurality of television programs.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the plurality of program listings is arranged in a grid based oncategories associated with the plurality of program listings.
 15. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of program listingsfurther comprises a logo of a content provider of a respectivetelevision program associated with each respective program listing ofthe plurality of program listings.
 16. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising generating for display a promotion that includes a logo for atelevision program being promoted wherein the promotion is generated fordisplay proximate to the plurality of program listings.
 17. The systemof claim 16, wherein the television program being promoted matches theat least one of the plurality of television programs.
 18. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the promotion includes at least one of a logo of asponsor of the television program being promoted, a celebrity nameassociated with the television program being promoted, and a celebrityimage associated with the television program being promoted.
 19. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the television program being promoted doesnot match a television program of the plurality of television programs.20. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to: receive user input selecting a program listing of theplurality of program listings; and in response to receiving the userinput selecting the program listing, perform at least one of generatingfor display, recording, adding to a favorite list, and ordering atelevision program associated with the program listing.